Days after Isaac, flooding and outages remain

An evacuation near the community of Bush was dialed back Sunday after authorities stabilized a lock in danger of failing on the Pearl River Diversion Canal. But St. Tammany authorities also were keeping an eye on the West Pearl River. Parish spokeswoman said about 5,000 homes near that waterway could be affected if it floods.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant reported 125,000 people were evacuated, though most returned home Sunday. Less than 100 people remained in shelters. Bryant said 924 people had to be rescued during Isaac.

Entergy, which provides power to most of the people who lost it, was under fire over the weekend from local government officials for what they said was a slow pace of restoration. Jefferson Parish President John Young said widespread outages were hampering businesses' recovery from the storm and he would ask the state Public Service Commission to investigate.

Entergy spokesman Chanel Lagarde noted that Isaac had lingered over the state after Tuesday's landfall and said Friday was the first day the corporation could get restoration efforts into high gear.

"We are working hard. We do have a good plan and we're going about it in an approach that we think is going to be effective," Lagarde said.

In Mississippi, about 1,600 Entergy customers awaited power. Roughly 5,000 served by not-for-profit electric associations also had no service.

Napolitano met with Mississippi emergency officials and Bryant at a fire station in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and was scheduled to make a stop in Louisiana later in the day.

Bay St. Louis was devastated by Katrina seven years ago, but this time it was protected from Isaac's surge by a new seawall.

Burdeau reported from Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Slidell, La.